Carroll Shelby's Personal Cobra Sells for Record $5.5 Million at Auction

The Daily Auto Insider: An 800-horsepower Shelby Cobra that was once the personal car of racing legend Carroll Shelby has sold for $5.5 million.

An 800-horsepower that was once the personal car of racing legend Carroll Shelby has sold for $5.5 million at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Associated Press reported.

The sale of the 1966 Shelby Cobra "Super Snake" brought a packed house to its feet Saturday at the auction after a pair of bidders drove the price up. The winning bidder was car collector Ron Pratt of Chandler, Arizona. Last year, he paid $4.32 million for the Futureliner, one of 12 futuristic buses used for shows in the 1940s and '50s by General Motors Corp.

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Shelby, 84, who created the Cobra in the '60s using engines and a British sport car chassis, said he built the Super Snake — with twin superchargers on a 427-cubic-inch V-8 — and drove it for years.

"It's a special car. It would do just over three seconds to 60 (mph), 40 years ago," Shelby told the crowd before the sale. "I killed a buzzard with it," he said. "Nasty, nasty."

Barrett-Jackson said the $5.5 million price tag for the Cobra is a world record for American cars, although others have sold at auction for more than $11 million.